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THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S 
STORY-ROOK 
































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They began to mix the finest mud pies you ever saw 

Page 15. 










































































THE 

FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S 



Illustrated by Florence Liley Young 

i > 

V * 

LOTH R OR LEE & SHEPARD CO. 

BOSTON 



Copyright, 1927, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


All Rights Reserved 
The Four-Year-Old’s Story-Book 


Printed in U. S. A. 


Norwood Press 
BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 

« 

SEP 20*21 

©C1A1004241 




CONTENTS 


Chapter 

Page 

i. 

Making Mud Pies . 

.... 9 

ii. 

Climbing Trees . 

.... 23 

hi. 

The Sick Dolly . 

.... 35 

IV. 

Hide-and-Seek . 

.... 44 

V. 

Poppy-Shows . 

.... 55 

VI. 

Uncle Jim ... 

.... 67 

VII. 

In the Park . 

.... 76 

VIII. 

At the Beach 

.... 89 

IX. 

A Lovely Surprise . 

. . . .108 

X. 

Two Lost Children 

. . . .118 

XI. 

Home Again . 

. . . .132 

XII. 

Writing Letters 

. . . .147 



t 








ILLUSTRATIONS 


They began to mix the finest mud pies 
you ever saw (Page 15) . . . Frontispiece 

Facing Page 

“Now lift her down”.34 

Mother sewed Rosemarie’s legs on again 42 

She gave a shout, and began to pull . . 48 

They brought buttercups, daisies, and 
clover-blossoms from the field ... 60 

Rose and Ned laughed at those funny 
little ducks.74 

They fed peanuts to the bears ... 80 

They made a whole row of these sand- 
cakes .102 

“The red one is mine, and the black-and- 
white one is yours” .116 

Rose wiped his face with her dress . . 126 

When Rose woke, Mother was leaning 
over her bed.144 

“Oh-h-h!” cried Ned. “See what he 
did!”.154 


7 







THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S 
STORY-BOOK 


CHAPTER I 

MAKING MUD PIES 

Ned and Rose lived in a 
city, on the same street. 
Rose’s house was just across 
the street from Ned’s. Rose 
was five years old, and Ned 
was four. No other little chil¬ 
dren lived near them on that 
street, so of course Ned and 
Rose played together most of 
the time. Rose had brown 
curly hair, and Ned liked to 



10 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

stand behind her, and poke 
his finger inside the curls, 
when Rose wasn’t watching 
him. Rose’s house had a big 
veranda in front, and the 
children often played there. 
Just behind Ned’s house was 
a wood-shed, and in it was a 
big cook-stove, that no one 
used now, because it was so 
old. But Ned and Rose loved 
to play in that wood-shed, 
and when they made mud 
pies, outdoors, they carried 
them in there, and put them 
in the oven to bake. Not 
really! Because there was 


MAKING MUD PIES 


11 


no fire in the stove. They 
were just making-believe. 

One morning, when Rose, 
lying in her little bed, opened 
her eyes, the sun was just 
beginning to shine in her 
window, and she thought: 
“Won’t this be a lovely morn¬ 
ing to make mud pies! Ned 
and I can make a whole 
ovenful.” 

Just then Mother called 
her, and Rose jumped up, 
and hurried to dress. Mother 
had to fasten all her buttons 
for her, but Rose could do 
all the rest. And very soon 


12 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

she was eating her breakfast. 

Presently she said to her 
mother, “I s’pose Ned wishes 
I’d come over to his house 
to play, this morning.” Her 
mother laughed, and said, 
“Yes, I suppose he does.” 

“Well, shall I go, Mother?” 

“Yes,” Mother said, “if you 
wish.” 

So Rose finished her break¬ 
fast, and all the time she 
was thinking about the mud 
pies she wished to make. 
Then she said: “Mother! I 
wish I had some nice mud- 
pie dishes. All Ned and I 


MAKING MUD PIES 13 

have is just a can-cover, and 
some old cans, and a broken 
plate that his mother gave 
us, and some pieces of a 
broken cup that we found in 
the alley, and some bottles 
that I took from our garbage- 
can, and—” 

Her mother laughed then, 
and said. “That sounds like 
heaps of dishes to me.” 

“Yes, but we want some 
nicer ones.” 

“Well,” Mother said, “let 
me see what I can find.” 

So they both went in the 
pantry, and Mother found 



14 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 


two little glass dishes, just 
cracked a tiny bit, and an 
old spoon, and a cup with 
the handle off. She gave 
them to Rose, and Rose was 
so pleased that her eyes shone. 
She said: “Oh, thank you, 
Mother. May I go over to 
Ned’s house now?” 

“Yes, dear. Watch for cars 
when you cross the street.” 

“All right, Mother. Good- 
by.” 

Rose ran outdoors, with 
the dishes in her hands. 

She found Ned, sitting on 
his front steps. He said, 


MAKING MUD PIES 15 

“Hello, Rose! What are you 
doing with those dishes?” 

Rose said: “Mother gave 
them to me for mud pies, 
Ned. Aren’t they nice ? Let’s 
make some now.” 

Ned was as pleased as 
could be, and the two chil¬ 
dren ran around the end of 
the house, to the backyard. 
And there they began to mix 
the finest mud pies you ever 
saw. Rose mixed hers first, 
in the cup without a handle, 
and stirred them with the 
spoon her mother had given 
her. Ned picked some daisies 


16 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

and little green clover-leaves 
to use for icing. Then Rose 
poured her mud-pie mixture 
into the two little glass dishes 
her mother had given her, 
and Ned pressed it in tightly, 
so it wouldn’t spill. Rose 
pulled all the little white 
petals off the daisies, and 
sprinkled them over the top 
of one of her cakes for icing, 
and Ned put a row of little 
green leaves all around the 
edge. 

Then Ned pulled all the 
little yellow parts off the 
daisies, and crumbled them 


MAKING MUD PIES 17 

into little bits, and used them 
to ice the other cake, and he 
put a row of little green 
clover - leaves around the 
edge. Weren’t those cakes 
pretty! One had white icing, 
and one had yellow, and each 
one was decorated around 
the edge with rows of green 
leaves. Rose carried one into 
the wood-shed, and Ned car¬ 
ried the other. They opened 
the big oven, and set their 
cakes inside, and closed the 
door. There was no fire in 
the stove, you know,—just 
make-believe. 


18 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

Rose said, “We’ll leave 
those cakes till they are well 
cooked, and while they are 
baking let’s go out and make 
some more.” 

But Ned was tired of mak¬ 
ing mud pies. He said, “Rose, 
come in the house, and let’s 
see if Mother will let us have 
some cookies.” So the chil¬ 
dren went into the house. 

Ned’s mother said: “Good 
morning, Rose. How is your 
mother to-day?” 

“She is pretty well, thank 
you,” said Rose. 

Then Ned’s mother asked, 


MAKING MUD PIES 19 

“What have you been play¬ 
ing, all morning?” 

Ned said, “We’ve been 
making mud pies, but after 
they are all made, we can’t 
really eat them, Mother, can 
we?” 

“No,” laughed his mother, 
“I suppose not. Let me see 
if I can find you something 
better than mud pies,” and 
she went into the pantry. 
Ned looked at Rose and 
smiled, and Rose smiled 
back at him, and whispered, 
“Cookies, I s’pect.” But it 
wasn’t cookies; it was two 


20 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

nice big red apples, one for 
each of them. 

The children said, “Thank 
you,” and scampered out in 
the yard to eat them. They 
were sweet apples, and it 
didn’t take long for two hun¬ 
gry little children to eat 
them every bit, — all but the 
cores. 

Rose took a seed from the 
core of her apple, and laid it 
on the palm of her hand. 
Then she placed the other 
hand over it, and said, “See, 
Ned. This is a trick Mother 
showed me.” And she shook 


MAKING MUD PIES 21 

the apple-seed inside her 
hands, and said: 

“Ippin, pippin. Paradise, 

Tell me where my lover lies. 

North, south, ‘yeast’, west. 

Where is the one that I love best?” 

Then she opened her hands, 
and the sharp end of the 
apple-seed pointed right in 
the direction of Rose’s house. 

“See! ” she said to Ned. “It 
is pointing at my house. 
That means I love Mother 
best.” 

So then Ned tried a seed in 
his hands, and said the little 
rhyme, just as Rose told him. 
And he said “yeast” instead 


22 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

of “east,” just as Rose did. 
And when he opened his 
hands, the seed pointed right 
at Rose. Wasn’t that funny! 
Ned said: “Huh! I don’t love 
you best, Rose. I love my 
mother best.” 

“I guess you didn’t shake 
the seed hard enough, Ned,” 
said Rose. And just then 
she heard some one call her. 
“There is Mother calling me,” 
she said. “It must be lunch 
time. Good-by Ned. Come 
over after lunch,” and away 
she ran, across the street, to 
her home. 


CHAPTER II 

CLIMBING TREES 

Ned and Rose were play¬ 
ing on the lawn, in front of 
Rose’s house. Rose had her 
mama-doll, named Peggy, 
and her Teddy-bear. Ned 
had his little wheelbarrow, 
and he had been giving the 
dolly and Teddy a ride in it. 
Rose ran beside the wheel¬ 
barrow when Ned pushed it. 
The sun was pretty hot, too, 
and soon the children felt so 
warm that they stopped un¬ 
der one of the shady trees. 

23 


24 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

“Dear me!” said Ned. “I 
must take off my sweater.” 
And he pulled it off. 

Rose said, “I think Peggy 
must feel too warm.” And 
she pulled off Peggy’s little 
sweater. 

Ned said, “I am going to 
hang my sweater on the tree.” 
And he tossed it up over a 
low branch, just where he 
could reach it. 

Rose thought that was a 
funny place to hang clothes, 
and she said, “Ned, put 
Peggy’s sweater there, too.” 

Ned took the sweater, and 


CLIMBING TREES 25 

he tossed it up, but he threw 
it a little too high, and it 
caught in a higher branch, up 
beyond his reach. 

“O my!” he said. “Now I 
can’t get it down.” 

“Let’s get a stick,” said Rose. 
“Then we can reach it.” 

So the children ran around 
to the back of the house, and 
found a stick that was nearly 
as long as Rose. They took 
it to the tree, and tried to get 
the doll’s sweater down, by 
poking it with the stick, but it 
didn’t come down. It seemed 
to be caught on a little twig. 


26 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

Rose nearly cried then. She 
thought Peggy would never 
have her sweater again. 

Then Ned said: “I know 
what I’ll do, Rose. I’ll climb 
the tree and get it.” 

Oh, Rose thought that was 
a wonderful thing to do. 

Ned caught hold of a low 
branch, and pulled himself 
up. The branches were so 
low, and so close together, it 
was easy to climb. Pretty 
soon Ned crept out on a 
branch, until he was just able 
to touch the sweater. He 
threw it down to Rose, and 


CLIMBING TREES 27 

she was so glad that she 
danced all around, and said: 
“O goodie, Ned! Thank you!” 
And she ran to put it on 
Peggy. 

Then Ned very carefully 
climbed down the tree, but it 
was pretty hard work, and he 
scratched his arm, and tore a 
hole in his stocking. 

But when Rose asked him, 
“Was it hard to do, climbing 
the tree?” he said, “No it was 
just as easy as could be/' 
because he wanted Rose 
to think he was big and 
strong. 


28 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 


“I think I’d like to climb a 
tree,” Rose said. 

“Oh, no! You mustn’t,” Ned 
said. “It is too hard for girls.” 

But Rose said, “I’m going 
to do it, just the same,”and 
she put her foot up on a very 
low branch and held on tightly 
with her hands, and said, 
“You will see Ned. I can 
climb, too,” and she started to 
climb. 

The branches were so close 
together, like stairs, that it 
seemed easy to go up, and she 
took two or three steps, then 
two or three more. 


CLIMBING TREES 


29 


She called to Ned, “See me, 
Ned.” But Ned called back: 
“Rose, stop! That is as far 
as I went.” 

Rose didn’t stop, though. 
She went up and up, farther 
and farther, and poor Ned 
was so afraid that she would 
fall, that he called to her, 
“Rose, come down, or I’ll tell 
your mother.” 

Rose stopped, and looked 
down at Ned, and she seemed 
to be a long way from the 
ground. It made her feel 
sick and dizzy to look. She 
leaned against the tree, and 


30 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

held on very tightly to a 
branch, and said, “Oh, I’m 
’fraid I’m going to fall!” And 
she began to cry. 

Poor Ned didn’t know what 
to do. He said, “Hold on 
tight, Rose, and I’ll come and 
get you,” and he started to 
climb the tree. 

Rose was more frightened 
than ever, then, and she cried, 
“Oh, no, Ned! Get Mother.” 
And she cried so loudly that 
Ned ran as fast as he could 
go, to the house for her 
mother. 

Pretty soon he and her 


CLIMBING TREES 31 

mother came back, running, 
to find poor little Rose still 
crying, up in the tree. Her 
Mother started up after her, 
very slowly and carefully, a 
branch to a step, until she 
could touch Rose’s dress. She 
held it tightly in one hand, 
and said, “I have hold of 
you, Rose, so you can’t fall. 
Put your foot down on the 
branch below you.” 

Rose didn’t feel so afraid 
with Mother there, and she 
put her foot down, and found 
the branch. And then she 
stepped down with her other 


32 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

foot, and Mother helped her, 
and held her from falling, and 
so, a step at a time, they 
climbed down, until Mother 
stepped off the lowest branch 
to the ground, and lifted Rose 
the rest of the way. 

Rose was so glad to be 
down on the grass again, and 
yet she was still frightened, 
and she cried harder than 
ever, till the tears made pink 
streaks down her dirty little 
face. Ned was so glad to 
have Rose safe again that he 
cried, too. Rose’s mother 
laughed at both of them. 


CLIMBING TREES 


33 


Mother said: “Rose, you 
must never, never climb trees 
again. You might have fallen, 
and hurt yourself dreadfully.” 

“I will never do it again, 
Mother,” said Rose. 

Mother went in the house, 
but looked out many times 
to see if Rose were there. And 
what do you suppose she saw? 
Rose and Ned stuck that long 
stick straight into the ground, 
and played it was a tree. And 
they hung poor Peggy on the 
top of it by her dress, and 
played she had climbed up, 
and couldn’t get down. 



34 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

Then Ned picked up the 
Teddy-bear, and told him to 
climb the tree. Ned lifted 
Teddy up the stick till he 
reached Peggy, and said, 
“Now lift her down.” 

He tried to wrap Teddy’s 
arms around Peggy, but the 
stick fell over, and Peggy 
had a fall, clear down to 
the ground. It didn’t hurt 
her, though, because Peggy 
wouldn’t break. Then both 
children had to go to be 
washed clean for lunch. 



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CHAPTER III 


THE SICK DOLLY 

Rose had a doll-baby named 
Rosemarie with eyes that 
closed and opened, and she 
could cry almost like a real 
baby, if she was tipped for¬ 
ward a little. Rose loved her 
the best of all her dollies, and, 
mind you, she had fifteen! 
Her baby brother, called 
“Laddie”, had a doll, too, that 
he took to bed with him every 
night, a little rag doll, dressed 
like Little Bo-peep. He just 

35 


36 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

couldn’t say Bo-peep, so he 
called his dollie Peepo. 

One day Rose was playing 
with her dolls on the veranda, 
and little brother Laddie 
played beside her with Peepo. 
Rose decided to make her 
baby doll a dress, and ran off 
to get a needle and thread, 
because she could sew a little. 
She was five years old, you 
know. 

While she was gone, Laddie 

«> 

dropped Peepo, and picked 
up Rosemarie. He held her 
very carefully in his arms and 
tipped her back till her eyes 


THE SICK DOLLY 37 

shut. Then he made her sit 
up, and her eyes opened. He 
found that if he shook her, it 
would make her cry. So he 
held her by one leg, with both 
his little baby hands, and 
shook her back and forth. 
And when she cried, he 
laughed and laughed, and 
thought it was great fun. 

He didn’t mean to hurt the 
dollie, because he was a dear 
little boy, and just as good as 
could be, but he shook her so 
hard that her leg came off. 
It was a cloth leg, sewed on, 
and the stitches broke, one 


38 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

by one, as he shook her. So 
he laid that leg down on the 
floor, took her by the other 
leg, and kept on shaking her. 

Well, Rose found her needle 
and thread, and ran to Mother 
with them. “Please thread 
it,” she asked. “I can’t do it 
myself, I am in such a hurry.” 
Mother laughed and threaded 
the needle, and Rose ran off 
to her doll again. 

But there was more trouble. 
Before she reached the ve¬ 
randa, she heard her baby doll 
crying, and she ran faster, 
thinking: “What is the mat- 


THE SICK DOLLY 39 

ter with Rosemarie? I hope 
she hasn’t fallen off the 
veranda.” 

But when Rose reached the 
veranda, and saw wee Laddie 
with the baby doll, she was 
as cross as could be. She 
snatched her dollie from him 
and cried, “You naughty 
baby! You mustn’t make 
Rosemarie cry.” 

Just then Rose noticed that 
one of her baby doll’s legs had 
come off, and right away she 
burst into tears. Mother 
heard Rose scolding Laddie, 
and crying. She came out to 


40 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

the veranda, to see what 
could be the matter, and by 
that time Laddie was crying, 
too. 

“What is the trouble?” 
asked Mother. “Rose is cry¬ 
ing, Rosemarie is crying, and 
Laddie is crying, all at once. 
What is it all about?” 

“Laddie pulled Rosemarie’s 
leg right off her stomach,” 
said Rose, with tears. Wasn’t 
she a funny little girl, to think 
dolly’s legs were fastened to 
her stomach? 

Mother took Rosemarie in 
her hands, and looked at the 


THE SICK DOLLY 


41 


torn leg. The other leg was 
half off, too. Wasn’t that 
dreadful! 

Mother said: “Don’t cry, 
Rose. I can sew this on in a 
jiffy, and you’ll never know 
it was torn. We’ll play your 
baby is sick, and I am the 
doctor.” 

Rose began to laugh then, 
with the tears still on her 
cheeks. “Oh, yes, Mother. 
Let’s have a hospital and my 
baby can have an operation.” 

“That’s what we must do,” 
said Mother. She picked 
Laddie up, and kissed him, 


42 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

and he stopped crying, too. 
Then every one was happy. 
Mother sat down, and, with 
Rose’s needle and thread, 
sewed Rosemarie’s legs on 
again, very firmly, while Rose 
pretended she was the nurse, 
and that she must give the 
baby ether. 

Then they put the baby to 
bed, in Rose’s doll-bed, and 
Mother filled a little bottle 
with water, and gave it to 
Rose with a spoon, and said, 
“Now this is medicine for this 
sick child, and you must give 
her a little every hour, till 



Mother sewed Rosemarie’s legs on again.— Page U 2. 













































THE SICK DOLLY 43 

she is better.” Wasn’t that 
fun! Rose played all the 
morning that her baby was 
sick, but by lunch time the 
medicine was all gone, and 
the sick dollie much better. 
And, really, her legs looked 
just as good as new. 


CHAPTER IV 

HIDE-AND-SEEK 

Ned liked to play hide-and- 
seek, and one morning, when 
he had gone over to Rose’s 
house to play, he said, “Let’s 
play hide-and-seek.” 

Rose liked it, too, so she 
said: “All right, Ned. I 
choose to hide first.” 

So Ned sat on the back- 
steps and hid his face, and 
counted up to twenty-five, 
while Rose ran away and hid. 
Then he hunted for her, here 
and there and everywhere, 


HIDE-AND-SEEK 45 

behind the hedge, and behind 
the big willow-tree, and 
around the house, and under 
the front-steps. And where 
do you suppose he found her? 
Inside an empty barrel, that 
stood beside the wood-shed. 
It was so high for Rose to 
climb out, that Ned had to 
upset the barrel carefully, and 
let her crawl out, while the 
barrel was on its side. 

Then Ned hid, and Rose 
found him right away, behind 
a chair on the front veranda. 
And after they had both had 
two more turns at hiding, 


46 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 


Ned said, “Let’s go over to 
my house, Rose, ’cause I’ve 
thought of a good place to 
hide over there, where you 
will never find me.” 

“I can, too, find you,” said 
Rose. “Ha, ha, you’ll see Mr. 
Ned!” 

So they went over to Ned’s 
house, and Rose hid her little 
pink face in her arms, and 
counted up to twenty-five, 
while Ned ran off to hide. 
Then she began to look for 
him. 

She looked in dozens of 
places,—all around the house, 


HIDE-AND-SEEK 


47 


behind the trees, in the long 
grass, in the garage, in the 
woodshed. Odear! No sign 
of Ned. Rose was so hot and 
tired now that she sat down 
on the steps to rest a minute, 
and to think. 

Dear, dear! There was a 
shoe, right down by the steps, 
of the woodshed. It was 
surely one of Ned’s shoes. He 
must have dropped it there. 
Rose looked at it a minute, 
and thought: “Ned’s mother 
wouldn’t like it, if she knew 
Ned’s shoe was there. He 
must be in his stocking-feet, 


48 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

so he can go quietly, ’cause 
he’s afraid I’ll hear him.” 

And just then, what do you 
suppose happened? The shoe 
wiggled. It certainly did. 
Rose opened her mouth to 
scream, she was so surprised. 
Then she dropped down on 
her knees and looked care¬ 
fully at that shoe. She gave 
a shout, caught hold of it, and 
began to pull. 

Mr. Ned’s foot was inside 
that shoe, and there was Ned 
himself, under the shed, in a 
nice little tight hole that just 
fitted him, all but that one foot. 





She gave a shout, and began to pull .—Page £ 8 . 




























































HIDE-AND-SEEK 


49 


So Rose caught him, and 
now it was her turn to hide. 
Ned began to count. Rose 
wanted to find a place to hide, 
where Ned never could find 
her. He had found such a 
fine place, when he hid. She 
wanted to find one even 
better. 

Ned had counted all the 
way up to ten, when she ran 
off. And by the time Ned 
said, “Twenty-five,” no Rose 
was to be seen. He stood up 
and looked around, and first 
of all he peeped into that nice 
little hole under the shed, 


50 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

where he had been. No Rose 
was there. 

So he began to look for her. 
He looked in all the places he 
could think of, and then went 
around and looked in them all 
again. Then he sat down to 
think, too, just as Rose had 
done. But he could think of 
nothing to help him. 

“I wonder if Rose went 
home,” he thought. “I guess 
I’ll call her, and see.” So he 
called, “Rose, it’s not fair for 
you to go home.” Then he 
waited a minute, but there 
was no sound of Rose, so he 


HIDE-AND-SEEK 


51 


called again, “Rose, say ‘Hoo- 
hoo!’ ” 

He listened, and he heard, 
“Hoo-hoo-oo!” But it sounded 
very low and faint. He 
thought it came from the 
wood-shed, so he went in 
there, and looked around. 
There was nowhere to hide in 
there. He saw just four bare 
walls; some kindling-wood 
piled against one wall; the old 
cook-stove that Mother 
didn’t use now. He went 
over to the stove, and looked 
behind it. No Rose was there. 

And then, almost under his 


52 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

nose, he heard “Hoo-hoo-oo- 
oo!” How it made him jump. 
It seemed to come right out 
of the stove. Why, Rose 
couldn’t be in there, in that 
black, smutty place. He lifted 
a stove-lid, and looked in, but 
of course she wasn’t there. 
The inside was empty and 

black, not half big enough for 
Rose. 

“Hoo-hoo-oo!” called Rose 
again. And this time it 
seemed so close to Ned, and 
he was so surprised that he 
nearly dropped a stove-lid on 
his toes. Then he just stood, 


HIDE-AND-SEEK 53 

and looked at that stove. 
Rose’s voice seemed to come 
right out of it, and yet she 
wasn’t there. 

All at once Ned smiled and 
then he laughed. Then he 
danced and shouted, “The 
oven!” and pulled open the 
oven-door, and there inside, 
curled up so tightly that she 
was almost smothered, was 
Rose. 

Ned had to pull her out, 
just as he did out of the 
barrel, and she had been 
curled up in there so long that 
she could hardly stand for a 


54 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 


minute. Then she stood up 
and rubbed her leg, which had 
gone to sleep, and said to 
Ned, “It was a gooder place 
to hide even than your hole 
under the wood-shed, wasn’t 
it?" 

“I guess it was," said Ned. 
“I’d never have found you, if 
you hadn’t hoo-hooed. I 
thought you were in the 
stove, Rose!” And then didn’t 
those two funny children 
laugh! 



CHAPTER V 

POPPY-SHOWS 

Did you ever make a poppy- 
show? It is heaps of fun. 
Rose's mother showed her 
how to do it, and Rose thought 
it was lovely. She said, 
“Mother, I want to show 
Ned.” 

“He is coming over to play, 
this afternoon,” said Mother. 
“You can show him then. 
I’ll give you some paper, and 
here is a piece of glass for 
Ned.” 

Rose had a large piece of 

55 


56 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

window-glass in her hand. 
Mother had glued a strip of 
cotton around the edge of it, 
so Rose wouldn’t cut herself. 
And she had fixed another 
large piece of glass, just like 
it, for Ned. 

Rose took the two pieces 
of glass and the two sheets 
of paper out to the veranda, 
put them down carefully on 
a table there, and began to 
look for Ned. 

It wasn’t long before she 
saw him coming across the 
street. She ran to meet him, 
and said: “Ned, Mother has 


POPPY-SHOWS 


57 


showed me a new game, and 
we can play it this afternoon. 
Come up on the g’randa, and 
I’ll show you/’ (Rose always 
said “g’randa”for “veranda.”) 

She and Ned ran up the ve¬ 
randa-steps, and she showed 
him the two sheets of white 
paper, and the two large pieces 
of glass. 

“What are they for ?” asked 
Ned. 

“To make a poppy-show 
with,” said Rose. “We have 
to pick all the different kinds 
of flowers we can find, and 
pull off the colored petals” 


58 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 


(Rose’s mother had taught 
her that word) “and stick the 
petals on the sheet of paper 
in all kinds of pretty ways.” 

“What is the glass for?” 
asked Ned. 

“That’s to cover the paper 
with,“ said Rose, “to hold the 
petals down and press them 
flat. Let’s see who can make 
the prettiest one.” 

“Oh, yes,” said Ned, “first 
the paper, and then the flower- 
petals, and then the glass.” 

“Yes,” said Rose. “And 
when we finish, we have to 
pay pins to see each other’s 


POPPY-SHOWS 


59 


poppy-show. I’ll say a little 
verse. It goes this way: 

“A pin, a pin, a poppy-show. 

Pay me a pin, and Ill show you 
a show. 

“And you must give me 
a pin, Ned, and I’ll show 
you the poppy-show I’ve 
made.” 

“Oh,” said Ned, “and then 
you give me a pin to see my 
poppy-show.” And off they 
ran to find flowers. They 
brought buttercups, daisies, 
clover-blossoms from the field, 
and pansies from the garden. 
Mother gave each of them 


60 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

three sweet-peas and some 
nasturtiums. 

They pulled off all the 
colored petals, and Rose put 
her buttercup petals around 
the edge of her paper. Next 
she put a row of nasturtiums, 
then a row of green clover- 
leaflets, with little white daisy- 
petals in between. And in 
the middle of her sheet of 
paper she put three pansies, 
and a little ring of sweet-pea 
petals around them. When 
she had all in place, she 
put her glass over them, 
and it pressed them down, 



They brought buttercups, daisies, and clover-blossoms from 

THE FIELD. — Page 59 . 



























POPPY-SHOWS 


61 


and made them look very 
pretty. 

“Come and see, Ned,” she 
called. 

“A pin, a pin, a poppy-show. 

Pay me a pin, and I’ll show you 
a show.” 

Just then Ned called, too: 
“Oh, Rose! I’ve finished. 
Come, see mine. 

“A pin, a pin, a poppy-show. 

Pay me a pin, and I’ll show you 
the show.” 

And then Mother had to 
come out with little Laddie, 
to see the shows. She gave 
Rose two pins, one for Laddie 


62 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

and one for herself, and Ned 
came running up with a pin, 
too. They all looked at 
Rose’s pretty flower-show, 
and Mother said it was one 
of the prettiest she had ever 
seen. 

Then Ned said, “Come and 
see mine.” And Mother gave 
Ned two pins, one for herself 
and one for Laddie, and Rose 
gave him a pin. She gave 
him back the very pin he 
had given her. 

Ned took them down to 
the other end of the veranda 
to see his poppy-show. And 


POPPY-SHOWS 


63 


how do you suppose he had 
made it? He had picked big 
handfuls of green grass, and 
sprinkled it all over his paper. 
He had pulled all the petals 
off his flowers, and sprinkled 
them all over the grass, and 
then put his glass down on 
top, to press it all down. It 
looked very pretty. 

Mother couldn’t decide 
whose was nicer, Rose’s or 
Ned’s. Rose was so pleased 
with both hers and Neds, that 
she danced from one to the 
other, looking at them. Then 
she said, “Let’s keep them 


64 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

here till Daddy comes home, 
and show him.” So she and 
Ned laid them carefully, side 
by side, on a settee that was 
on the veranda. Then they 
ran off to play. 

Little Laddie sat on the 
floor near the settee. He 
reached up for the edge of 
the seat, to pull himself up 
on his feet. He wanted to 
see the poppy-shows. But 
he caught hold of the edge 
of a pillow instead, and pulled 
it right down on the glass 
that covered Ned’s show. 

Rose’s mother came out on 


POPPY-SHOWS 


65 


the veranda a little later, with 
her sewing. She went over 
to the settee, and sat down 
on the cushion, and, O dear! 
there was a crackling and 
breaking sound that made 
her jump up quickly. What 
do you suppose she’d done? 
She’d sat right on Ned’s 
poppy-show, and ruined it. 
The glass was broken, the 
paper was torn, and the grass 
and flower-petals were spilled 
on the settee and on the floor. 

She felt very sorry, and 
called the children. When 
they came running up to the 


66 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

veranda she said: “Ned, I’m 
so sorry. I sat on your poppy- 
show, and broke the glass all 
to pieces. Isn’t that too bad.” 
Ned was sorry, too, and Rose 
nearly cried. 

Then Ned said, “Maybe if 
I had a cookie I’d feel better.” 
That made them all laugh, 
and Mother ran in the house, 
and brought out cookies for 
both Ned and Rose. And she 
promised Ned she would get 
him a new piece of glass the 
next day. That made Ned 
feel happy again. 


CHAPTER VI 


UNCLE JIM 

Rose had several uncles, 
but the one she liked best of 
all was Uncle Jim. When he 
came to visit, there were 
always good times for Rose 
and Ned. They had excur¬ 
sions to the Beach, rides in 
the street-car, and trips to the 
Park to see the animals there. 
When they were at home, 
they played games on the 
lawn with him, and he bought 
them new toys, and some¬ 
times ice-cream cones. Uncle 


67 


68 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

Jim was the nicest kind of 
an uncle. Ned called him 
Uncle Jim, too, although he 
was not really Ned’s uncle, 
but Rose’s. Rose liked to 
share him with Ned. 

So one day, when Mother 
told her that Uncle Jim was 
coming for a visit, she jumped 
up and down with joy, and 
asked, “Mother, may I go 
over to Ned’s house, to tell 
him about it?” 

Mother said “Yes,” and off 
she ran. 

Ned saw her coming, and 
ran out to meet her. 


69 


UNCLE JIM 

“Oh, Ned!” she cried. “Uncle 
Jim is coming for a visit.” 

“When?” asked Ned. 

“Why, I don’t know,” Rose 
said. “I was so excited, I 
forgot to ask Mother. I’ll go 
and ask her now,” and she 
started to run home. But 
Ned caught her arm, and said: 
“Wait, Rose. Wait for me. 
I’ll ask Mother if I may go 
with you,” and he ran in his 
house to find his mother. 

“Mother,” he said, “Uncle 
Jim is coming on a visit. 
Rose came to tell me. I wish 
I could go over to her house. 


70 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

We want to ask her mother 
about it.” 

Ned’s mother laughed to 
see how excited he was, but 
she told him to go. So he and 
Rose ran across the street to 
Rose’s house, and in the door 
at the back, to the kitchen. 

“Mother!” called Rose. “We 
want to know when Uncle 
Jim is coming.” 

Mother wasn’t in the 
kitchen, so Rose called again, 
and just then she and Ned 
heard some one speaking in 
the next room. 

They ran to the door and 


UNCLE JIM 


71 


peeped in, to see who was 
there with Mother. And then 
what do you suppose hap¬ 
pened ? 

Rose cried out, “There’s 
Uncle Jim!” And Ned shouted, 
“Oh, it’s Uncle Jim!” And 
both children rushed into the 
room, and threw their arms 
> around him. It really was 
Uncle Jim, and he and the 
children hugged each other 
as hard as they could. He 
had come earlier than they 
expected, and they were so 
surprised that they could 
hardly believe it was true. 


72 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

So he made them stand 
back till he could look at 
them, and see how they had 
grown. And he lifted them, 
to see how heavy they were. 
Then he said: “I left my over¬ 
coat in the hall, and there is 
a parcel in one pocket. I 
wish some one would bring 
it here.” 

The children both ran out 
to the hall, and their little 
hands went into all the coat- 
pockets, till Rose found the 
parcel and took it in to 
Uncle Jim. 

He said: “Thank you. Now 


UNCLE JIM 


73 


let’s see who can guess what 

• • 11 
is in it. 

“Candy,” said Rose, and 
Ned guessed peanuts. “Ice¬ 
cream cone,” cried Rose, and 
Ned said “Skipping-ropes,” 
because he saw Rose’s skip¬ 
ping-rope on the back of a 
chair, and he couldn’t think 
of anything else to guess. 

Uncle Jim laughed. He was 
busy unwrapping the parcel. 
And what do you suppose 
was in it? Two funny little 
toy ducks. Each one was 
about as long as your longest 
finger, and ran on wheels. 


74 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

There was a button in each 
one, to wind it up. 

“Will it go, Uncle Jim?” 
asked Rose. 

“Wind mine up!” cried Ned. 

“Show me how to wind 
mine!” cried Rose. 

Uncle Jim wound one up, 
and had Ned hold it by the 
back wheels, so it couldn’t go. 
And then he wound up the 
other. He set them on the 
floor together, and they ran 
along on the wheels, pecking 
as if they were eating corn. 

Rose and Ned laughed un¬ 
til they couldn’t laugh any 



Rose and Ned laughed at those funny little ducks 

Page 7U- 





































































UNCLE JIM 


75 


more, at those funny little 
ducks. Ned laughed until 
he had to lie down on the 
floor, and there he lay until 
Uncle Jim sent one duck 
straight at him. Then he 
jumped up in a hurry, pre¬ 
tending he was afraid that 
the duck would peck him. 

Uncle Jim taught the chil¬ 
dren how to wind up the 
ducks, and they went out on 
the veranda to play with their 
new toys, leaving Uncle Jim 
for a while to talk to Mother. 


CHAPTER VII 

IN THE PARK 

The next morning Rose was 
up, bright and early, and 
after breakfast she stood 
by Uncle Jim’s chair, look¬ 
ing at him with such bright 
eyes that he suspected she 
had something to say to 
him. 

So he asked her, “What are 
you thinking about, Rose?” 

She didn’t want to tell, at 
first, till Uncle Jim coaxed her 
to. Then she said, “I am 
wondering where you are 

76 


IN THE PARK 


77 


going to take Ned and me 
to-day.” 

Everybody laughed then, 
and Rose’s daddy said, “I 
didn’t know he was going 
to take you anywhere.” 

“He always does, Daddy,” 
said Rose. She felt a little 
shy because every one was 
laughing at her. 

“Of course we must go 
somewhere,” Uncle Jim said. 
“Where would you like to go?” 

“To the Park,” said Rose, 
right away. 

“That is a fine place to go,” 
Uncle Jim said. “Run over to 


78 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

Ned’s house, and tell him we 
are going.” 

Rose ran off at once, and 
when she came back, a little 
later, Ned was with her, and 
he was all ready to go. Rose 
had to rush up-stairs and 
brush her hair, and change 
her dress. Mother went up, 
too, to see that all the buttons 
were fastened right. Then 
the two children were ready, 
and Uncle Jim said to Mother, 
“Good-by; we shall not be 
back to lunch.” That made 
Rose feel very much excited. 

Off they started, and it 


IN THE PARK 


79 


wasn’t long before they 
reached the Park. There 
were animals and birds in 
cages, and Ned wanted to see 
them, first of all. Rose liked 
them, too. They fed peanuts 
to the monkeys, and to the 
bears. Yes, indeed, the bears 
loved the peanuts. Mr. Bear 
would take a whole peanut, 
shell and all, in his mouth, 
crack it with his teeth, swallow 
the nut, and let the shell drop 
from his mouth. There was a 
big cage, as big as Mr. Bear’s 
cage, full of little bright- 
yellow canaries, that were so 


80 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

pretty the children couldn’t 
leave them, till Uncle Jim said, 
“Let’s see the kangaroos.” 
Then they forgot the canaries. 

Kangaroos are funny ani¬ 
mals, with very, very big tails. 
They sit up on their hind legs 
and tails. And they can j ump 
a long, long way. They come 
from a country called Aus¬ 
tralia, and that is far away, 
across the ocean. Ned and 
Rose thought they were 
wonderful. “They look as if 
they had their front paws cut 
off, they’re so short,” said 
Ned. 



They fed peanuts to the bears. —Page 79 , 
























































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IN THE PARK 


81 


Next, the children saw some 
deer in a closed yard, and 
then some goats. The goats 
had little stone houses, with 
sloping walls like the sides of 
a tent, and one goat ran up 
the stone side of his house, 
and lay down for a nap on the 
roof. 

They saw a big white polar 
bear in his cage, and he swung 
his head from side to side, all 
the time. Rose thought he 
looked very sad, and Uncle 
Jim said, “Perhaps he is home¬ 
sick.” You know polar bears 
come from a land where there 


82 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

is always ice and snow, and 
Ned said, “I guess he keeps 
turning his head, because he 
is looking around for an ice¬ 
berg.” 

Best of all, they went to see 
the elephant-house next, and 
there inside was the elephant, 
chained to the floor, so he 
couldn’t get away. “Why 
does he have such big ears?” 
said Rose. 

“He fans himself with them, 
when he gets too warm,” said 
Ned, “and they help to keep 
the flies away.” 

That made Uncle Jim laugh 


IN THE PARK 83 

a little. Then Rose said: 
“What makes his skin so 
loose? I b’lieve it is coming 
unfastened.” Wasn’t she a 
funny little girl ? 

Ned said, “I think the ele¬ 
phant feels cooler if his skin 
is a little loose, Rose.” 

Uncle Jim asked them if 
they would like to swing, so 
they went to the playground. 
There were plenty of swings 
there, and teeters , and slides, 
and chutes, and merry-go- 
rounds, all for little children. 
Rose and Ned went on the 
swings first, and Ned swung 


84 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

very high; but Rose was 
afraid, and wouldn’t go high, 
at all. 

Next they tried a teeter, 
and Ned thought it was 
lovely, but Rose was afraid 
when her end of it went away 
up in the air. When it came 
down to the ground again, 
she slipped off very quickly, 
and if Uncle Jim hadn’t caught 
the teeter, Ned would have 
had a dreadful bump. 

By this time the children 
began to feel hungry, and 
Uncle Jim took them to a 
neat little tea-house at the 


IN THE PARK 


85 


edge of the Park, where they 
had lunch and ice-cream, too. 

After lunch, they took a ride 
in a street-car, and got off at 
the other side of the Park, 
where there was a lake, with 
boats on it. 

Of course they wanted a 
ride in a boat, so Uncle Jim 
put them in one, and took the 
oars, and rowed out across 
the lake. There were many 
fish in the water. “I wish 
that we could feed them,” said 
Rose. Uncle Jim promised 
her she might, as soon as he 
could row to shore, and when 


86 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

they reached it, what do you 
suppose he did? He bought 
them a little package of 
cookies at an ice-cream stand. 
The children threw little bits 
of these cookies in the water 
at the edge of the lake and 
swarms of little fishes came to 
eat them. This was the best 
fun of all. Cooky after cooky 
went into the water, and 
more and more little fishes 
came to dine. 

\ 

Then something else came— 
a pair of black ducks. “Shoo 
them away, Ned!” Rose cried. 
“They will eat all the cooky- 



IN THE PARK 


87 


crumbs. Oh! They are scar¬ 
ing away the fishes.” 

What do you think those 
ducks did? One of them put 
his head down under the 
water, and caught a little fish, 
right in his bill. He tossed it 
around till the fish’s head 
pointed right down Mr. 
Duck’s throat. Then the 
duck swallowed, and that was 
the last of that little fish. 
Next, the other duck caught 
a fish, and pretty soon each 
duck had had three. 

It made Ned feel as cross as 
a bear, and Rose almost cried. 


88 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

They threw stones at the 
ducks, and the little fishes 
were so frightened that they 
all swam away. 

Then Uncle Jim said it was 
time to go home. The children 
were sorry to leave the lovely 
Park, but they had had a fine 
time, and were tired now. So 
they went home on the street¬ 
car, where Rose had a little 
nap in Uncle Jim’s arms. And 
when they reached home, it 
kept Rose and Ned busy until 
bed-time telling their mothers 
about all the things they saw. 


CHAPTER VIII 

AT THE BEACH 

Uncle Jim wanted to go to 
the Beach for a whole day. 
Rose was so excited she could 
hardly stand still, because 
she knew Uncle Jim would 
take her, and probably Ned, 
too. 

She said to her mother: 
“Uncle Jim is going to the 
Beach for a whole day, 
Mother. He told me so. I 
guess I must be going, too, 
because he had a twinkle in 
his eyes.” 


89 


90 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

“We must all go,” said 
Rose’s mother. And then 
Rose was so happy she didn’t 
know what to do. 

They planned to start next 
morning,—Rose and Ned and 
their mothers, the two babies, 
and Uncle Jim. The two 
daddies were going to come, 
later. 

They had to have a lunch, 
of course, and Ned and Rose 
tiptoed around, first in Rose’s 
house, and then in Ned’s, 
sniffing the air. 

My! they smelled good 
things! There were cakes and 


AT THE BEACH 


91 


cookies, and little bits of pies 
and tarts, and all sorts of 
jammy, spicy, fruity smells. 

When Rose went to bed 
that night, she thought, “I’m 
so excited, I’ll never be able 
to go to sleep.” But she went 
to sleep as soon as her head 
touched the pillow, and when 
she awoke in the morning, it 
seemed as if it were only a 
few minutes since she had 
gone to bed. 

But Mother was down¬ 
stairs, and Daddy, and Uncle 
Jim. Rose could hear them 
talking. And the sun was 


92 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

shining brightly, for it was a 
beautiful day. 

Rose jumped up, and tried 
to dress so fast that her 
fingers tangled up in the 
buttonholes, and one stocking 
went on wrong side out. And 
she couldn’t find her petticoat, 
so she dressed without it. 
She put her dress on back¬ 
wards, and was in such a 
hurry she didn’t take time to 
change it, but buttoned it 
on backwards, and hoped 
Mother wouldn’t notice. 

She ran down-stairs and 
into the dining-room. Uncle 


AT THE BEACH 


93 


Jim caught her in his arms, 
and said, “Good morning, 
Rose.” Then she ran to kiss 
her daddy, and say “Good 
morning” to him. 

And then Mother came in 
from the kitchen, and saw the 
dress was on backwards, right 
away. But she laughed, and 
said Rose might leave it so 
till after breakfast. Then she 
sent Rose upstairs to brush 
her teeth, and wash her face 
and hands. 

After breakfast, Uncle Jim 
and Rose packed the picnic- 
basket. Mother showed them 



94 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

what to put in, and she rolled 
up a great many little parcels 
of sandwiches, and all those 
nice-smelling spicy cakes and 
cookies and tarts and pies 
and fruit, that the children 
had smelled the day before. 
And she put in bottles of milk 
for the children, and sugar and 
a coffee-pot, and more other 
things than I can remember. 

When they had finished, in 
walked Mr. Ned, with a nice 
little brown-linen suit on, all 
ready for the Beach. He said 
his mother had her basket all 
packed, too. So Rose and her 


AT THE BEACH 


95 


mother went up-stairs to 
dress. Rose had a little 
brown-linen dress, almost the 
color of Ned’s suit, which she 
put on. 

By the time they were 
dressed, they heard a loud 
toot-toot, honk-honk, out¬ 
side. That was Uncle Jim 
with a car. They ran down¬ 
stairs, and Mother, Rose, 
Ned, little Laddie, and the 
picnic-basket were all soon 
packed away, inside the car. 

Uncle Jim then drove them 
over to Ned’s house, to get 
Ned’s mother and Baby Sister. 


96 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

The two mothers and two 
babies sat in the back seat, 
while Rose and Ned sat in 
front with Uncle Jim, and 
watched him drive the car. 
Wasn’t it fun! 

It was a long way to the 
Beach. Ned wanted to drive 
the car, so Uncle Jim let him 
hold his hands on the steering- 
wheel, but Uncle Jim held on, 
too. Rose had her baby doll 
in her arms, and she held her 
up, to let her look out the car- 
window, and pretended to tell 
her all about the things they 
saw. 


AT THE BEACH 97 

Then they reached the 
Beach. The sand was hot 
in the sun, and the water 
sparkled and danced. There 
were crowds of people, a few 
swimming, but most of them 
were lying or sitting on the 
sand, or walking about. 

Rose and Ned ran down to 
the water’s edge at once, then 
rushed back to their mothers, 
to ask if they might go in 
swimming. Rose’s mother 
took her in the car, and un¬ 
dressed her there, put on her 
bathing-suit, took her hand 
and they walked down to the 


98 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

water. In a few minutes 
came Ned and his mother, 
and then Uncle Jim in a 
bathing-suit. Then both the 
daddies came, ready for a 
swim. They had come on the 
street-car. Rose’s mother 
and Ned’s were the last to 
get ready. They put the 
babies down, to kick and play 
in the sand, and sat there 
beside them. Rose’s daddy 
took her hand, and waded 
out into the big waves with 
her, and Ned’s daddy took 
him. 

The children didn’t like it 


AT THE BEACH 99 

very well out there. The 
water was cold, and when a 
big breaker came in, that 
almost went over Rose’s head 
even though she was up in 
her daddy’s arms, she got 
a whole mouthful of salt 
water. So she asked to go 
back to shore, and Ned did, 
too. They liked best to play 
in the little waves, at the 
edge of the water, and dig 
in the sand with a stick they 
found. 

The grown-ups swam away 
out, and had a fine time, and 
the children stayed on the 


100 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

sand, and had a good time, 
too. 

Then their fathers and 
mothers and Uncle Jim came 
out of the water and dressed. 
But Rose and Ned kept their 
bathing-suits on, and lay in 
the sand, and threw it over 
each other, and dug their 
toes down in it. 

Just then, up came Rose’s 
daddy with a big ball for 
them to play with. Wasn’t 
that fun! They would toss 
it to each other, then throw 
it in the water a little way, 
and run in after it. Rose 


AT THE BEACH 101 

tried to sit on it in the 
water, to hold it down, but 
it bounced up from under 
her every time. When Ned 
tried to help her sit on it, it 
bounced away from him, too. 
You try it, some time, and 
you’ll see. The only way 
they could hold it under 
water was with their hands. 

Along came Ned’s mother 
now, with two little pails and 
two shovels. Oh my, such 
fun! They filled the pails 
with sand, and packed it in 
tightly, then turned it out on 
the Beach, and the sand 


102 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

looked like a cake, just the 
shape of the pail. They 
made a whole row of these 
sand-cakes. 

Then Ned said, “Let’s 
knock them all over, with the 
ball.” Ned threw the ball, hit 
two sand-cakes, and knocked 
them all to pieces. Rose 
threw it, and hit one; and so 
they kept it up, till no more 
sand-cakes were left. 

The next thing to do was 
to build a sand-house. Then 
Rose remembered a little 
poem her mother had taught 
her. Do you know it? 



They made a whole row of these sand-cakes. —Page 102 , 






































AT THE BEACH 


103 


“When I was down beside the sea, 
A wooden spade they gave to me. 
To dig the sandy shore. 

My holes were empty, like a cup. 
In every hole the sea came up 
Till it could come no more.” 


She and Ned dug deep holes 
in the sand, to see if the sea 
would come up in them. And 
sure enough, it did. 

Finally Rose was tired, and 
lay down in the sand, with 
the ball in her arms, and 
Ned covered her with sand, 
all except her head. Then 
he lay down, too, and tried 
to cover himself, till Rose 


104 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

laughed at him, wiggled out 
from her sand-pile, and 
covered Ned. 

What do you suppose the 
two little babies were doing? 
Laddie was sitting in the 
sand, picking up tiny baby 
handfuls of it, and throwing 
it as far as he could. Ned’s 
little sister was pouring sand 
on top of her own curly head, 
and filling her little bits 
of pockets. Every one was 
happy, you see. 

The grown-ups were very 
hungry now, and began to 
spread out their lunch on a 


AT THE BEACH 


105 


smooth dry bit of sand, be¬ 
tween two big logs. It wasn’t 
long before they had a little 
fire burning, and the coffee¬ 
pot hung on a stick, over the 
fire. Picnic lunches always 
taste good. Soon the children 
were tucked full of sand¬ 
wiches and milk and fruit, 
and cakes and cookies. You 
would never believe it, if I 
told you all the things they 
ate. Ned’s mother said, “I 
guess it must be the sea air,” 
and maybe that was the 
reason. And the babies ate 
bread-and-butter sandwiches 


106 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

and drank milk, and each one 
had a cooky. 

After lunch, the children 
played a little longer. Then 
their mothers dressed them, 
and they all went for a walk 
along the Beach. They came 
to a cunning little tea-house, 
and Ned and Rose each 
wanted an ice-cream cone. 
Their mothers both said that 
they did not need them, but 
Uncle Jim was sure that they 
could eat them, and they did! 

At last Rose’s mother said: 
“I think we should go home. 
It is getting late.” Then they 


AT THE BEACH 107 

all went back to the car. 
Ned’s daddy said Ned had 
grown so much since he had 
eaten that big lunch, that he 
didn’t believe there would be 
room for him, but there was. 
It was hard to pack them all 
in, and the lunch-baskets, too, 
but they managed it, at last. 

“Good-by, lovely Beach!” 
Rose cried, and Ned said, 
“We’ll come again, next 
week.” And then both chil¬ 
dren went fast asleep, and 
the next thing they knew, 
they were home. 


CHAPTER IX 

A LOVELY SURPRISE 

Uncle Jim said he must go 
home the next day. He told 
Rose and Ned it would take 
him more than half the day 
to get home, so it seemed like 
a long, long way, to the 
children. 

Then he told them some¬ 
thing that made them feel 
very happy. He said that 
when Christmas came, he was 
going to send for them to 
come to the town where he 


108 


A LOVELY SURPRISE 


109 


lived, and visit Rose’s Aunt 
Grace. She was Uncle Jim’s 
sister, and she and Uncle Ben, 
and their little girl, Louise, 
lived on a big farm close to 
the town where Uncle Jim 
lived. 

“She’s mother’s sister, and 
Uncle Jim’s sister, too.” Rose 
explained to Ned. “And 
Louise is my little cousin, 
only she isn’t little. She’s 
bigger’n I am, Ned. She’s 
eight years old.” 

The children felt very ex¬ 
cited and happy when they 
began to think of the visit 


110 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

they might make at Christ¬ 
mas time. 

“Shall we go all alone?” 
asked Rose. 

“No,” Uncle Jim said. “I 
think Mother will probably 
come with you; and little 
Laddie, too.” 

The children went up-stairs 
with Uncle Jim that evening, 
and watched him pack his 
suit-cases, Rose helped him, 
bringing his shaving-cream 
and razor from the bathroom, 
while Ned folded his socks 
for him. 

Both children felt very 


A LOVELY SURPRISE 111 

sorry to think he was going 
away again. But when Rose’s 
little lip began to come out, 
and the corners of her mouth 
drooped, as if she were going 
to cry, Uncle Jim would talk 
to her about the farm, and 
how she and Ned were com¬ 
ing at Christmas time, per¬ 
haps. And then Rose forgot 
to cry. 

Finally, the children and 
Uncle Jim had the suit-cases 
all packed. Ned’s mother 
came, to take Ned home, and 
Rose went to bed. Rose 
asked Mother to call her in 


112 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

the morning, when Uncle Jim 
woke, and Mother did, 
although it seemed to be 
very early to Rose. 

Rose dressed and had her 
breakfast with Daddy and 
Uncle Jim, but she was so 
sleepy she couldn’t eat much. 
Then a car came to the door, 
to take Uncle Jim to the 
station, and Rose begged to 
go, too. Her daddy said she 
might go, if she would prom¬ 
ise not to cry. 

She climbed in the car, and 
sat between her daddy and 
Uncle Jim, and they were 


A LOVELY SURPRISE 113 

driven to the station. It was a 
big place. Long trains waited 
for passengers on the tracks 
outside the gates. Uncle 
Jim kissed Rose good-by at 
the gate, and said “Good-by” 
to her daddy. And because 
he was afraid Rose was going 
to cry, he whispered to her: 
“Mother has a surprise for 
you, when you get home. 
Good-by, Rosie! I think we 
shall see each other at Christ¬ 
mas time.” 

This made Rose’s eyes 
sparkle, and she wondered 
what the surprise was, that 


114 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

Mother had. She watched 
Uncle Jim get on his train, 
waved good-by to him, and 
never cried a bit. Then his 
train went “Puff, puff” away 
from the station, and Daddy 
took Rose home. She won¬ 
dered, all the way, what her 
surprise could be. 

When she reached home, 
she asked Mother for it at 
once. Mother said, “It is in 
a box in the kitchen, one for 
you and one for Ned.” 

On the kitchen floor was a 
big box made of wooden slats, 
with open spaces between 


A LOVELY SURPRISE 


115 


them, and inside was—guess! 
There were two little pup¬ 
pies, such fat, funny, round, 
dear little things. One 
was a brownish-red color, 
and the other was black and 
white. 

Uncle Jim had told Mother 
to let Rose choose whichever 
one she wanted, and Ned 
should have the other. At 
first, Rose couldn’t make up 
her mind which one she liked 
the better, but finally she 
chose the reddish-colored one. 
Her Mother said his name 
was Rufus, and the little 



116 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

black-and-white one was 
named Andy. 

Then Mother telephoned 
to Ned’s house to ask if Ned 
might come over. In a few 
minutes, in came Ned, having 
just finished his breakfast. 
You see, he wasn’t up as 
early as Rose. Rose pulled 
him by the hand into the 
kitchen. 

“See, Ned!” she cried. 
‘‘Aren’11hey lovely! The red 
one is mine, and the black- 
and-white one is yours.” 

Oh, wasn’t Ned a happy 
little boy! How the children 



FT 


7 7 


“The red one is mine, and the black-and-white one is yours 

Page 116 . 













































































































































A LOVELY SURPRISE 117 

loved their puppies! There 
was a note, too, from Uncle 
Jim, telling them the puppies’ 
names. “I love this puppy. 
He’s so sweet,” said Rose. 
“But I love him twice as hard 
’cause Uncle Jim gave him to 
me.” 

“So do I, mine,” said Ned. 


CHAPTER X 

TWO LOST CHILDREN 

Rose was lonesome after 
Uncle Jim left, so Mother 
promised to take her out to 
the Park again, some day 
soon. And then little Laddie 
began to cut a tooth, which 
hurt him, so that he cried a 
great deal, and was cross. 
Mother said she would not 
be able to go for a few 
days, till the baby boy felt 
better. 

Rose was disappointed, and 
she and Ned talked about the 


118 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 119 

Park, and what fun they had 
had there with Uncle Jim. 

Then Ned thought of a 
plan. He said, “Rose, let’s 
get some money from our 
banks, and go on the street¬ 
car ourselves, to the Park.” 

That pleased Rose ever so 
much, and she said, “If we 
find the way to the Park all 
ourselves, probably Mother 
will let us go often.” 

“We could go every day, 
then,” said Ned. 

Rose wanted to start at 
once. “I’ll get some pennies 
from my bank, Ned,” she said. 


120 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

“You get some, too, and let’s 
go, right away.” 

So Rose ran in the house 
to get her bank, and Ned ran 
home to get his. Rose’s bank 
was a big, black iron rooster. 
She had found out that, with 
a thin-bladed knife to help 
her, she could shake pennies 
out of her bank. So she 
shook out some of them on 
the table, but she didn’t tell 
her mother about it. 

She was afraid, if she did 
that Mother would say, “No, 
Rose, you cannot go.” She 
picked up her money, found 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 121 

her hat, and ran out to the 
sidewalk, to wait for Ned. 

There came Ned, across the 
street, and when he reached 
Rose he showed her his hand, 
full of pennies, just as hers 
was. They put the money in 
Ned’s pocket, because his was 
deeper than Rose’s, and hand 
in hand the two children went 
down the street. 

It was a lovely sunny day, 
and they felt very happy and 
important, as they walked 
along. They came to the 
corner, where the street-car 
stopped, and Rose looked at 


122 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

Ned, and he at her. Rose's 
little heart was beating faster 
than usual. She had never 
been on a street-car without 
a grown-up person to hold 
her hand, and she felt that 
perhaps Mother wouldn’t like 
this. She knew she should go 
home. So did Ned. But they 
didn’t go. 

Instead, there came a 
street-car, and the children 
climbed on it, among a crowd 
of grown-up people, who were 
getting on, too. They for¬ 
got to give the conductor 
some money, and he thought 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 123 

some of the grown-ups who 
had just stepped inside, were 
in charge of these two little 
children. So he didn’t ask 
them for tickets. 

Rose and Ned found a seat 
by the window, and sat there, 
watching the streets, as the 
car rushed along. “We should 
be nearly to the Park now,” 
said Ned. Then Rose remem¬ 
bered. “We went on two cars 
to get to the Park, when we 
went with Uncle Jim.” 

“So we did,” said Ned. 
“Let’s get off, and get on the 
next car.” 


124 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

The children waited till the 
car stopped again, and then 
stepped off. They went on 
another car, going in a differ¬ 
ent direction, and they rode 
miles and miles, but no Park 
did they see. 

By and by the conductor 
said, “End of the line” and 
every one in the car got off. 
The conductor came to Rose 
and Ned and said, “Here’s 
where you get out, children.” 
They were rather afraid of 
the conductor, so they got 
out. They didn’t tell him 
they wanted to find the Park. 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 125 

“Let’s walk a while, and see 
if we can find it,” said Rose. 
So they walked hand in hand. 
They were almost out in the 
country, and they walked on 
and on, hotter and more tired 
all the time. 

Ned said, “I don’t believe 
the Park is on this street, 
Rose.” And Rose was so tired 
and frightened that she burst 
into tears. 

“Don’t cry, Rose,” said Ned. 
“We’ll get on the street-car, 
and go home again.” But 
now they couldn’t find the 
street-car line. Once Ned 


126 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

thought he saw it ahead of 
them, and he let go of Rose’s 
hand, and started to run. He 
tripped, and fell on his knees, 
and skinned one pretty badly, 
and then he nearly cried. 
Rose wiped the dust off his 
knees with her dress, and then 
she wiped the tears from her 
eyes, with her dress. Ned 
looked for his handkerchief to 
rub his face, and he couldn’t 
find it, so Rose wiped his face 
with her dress again. Now 
the dress was pretty dirty, 
and Ned’s face was streaked 
with dust, and Rose’s little 



Rose wiped his face with her dress. —Page 126 . 

























































TWO LOST CHILDREN 111 

face was a sight to be¬ 
hold. The only clean spot 
on her face was where 
the last tear had trickled 
down and it had washed 
a little clean path for it¬ 
self through the dust and 
dirt. 

The two children decided 
they would stop at the next 
house, and ask the people 
there where the street-car 
track was. But just then a 
man in an automobile came 
by, and Ned waved and 
shouted at him, till the man 
stopped. 


128 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 


“Where is the street-car 
track?” asked Ned. 

The man laughed. “Which 
one do you want?” he asked. 

“One that will take us 
home,” said Rose. 

“Where do you live, chil¬ 
dren?” 

Ned told him their address, 
and the man looked rather 
surprised. “I never heard of 
such a street,” he said. “Jump 
in and let’s see if we can find 
some one who knows where 
it is. 

The children gladly climbed 
into the car, and he drove on 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 129 

and on. Ned told him all 
about how they had tried to 
find the Park, and that made 
the man laugh. But he said, 
“You must never try it again, 
till you get older. You’ll get 
lost every time, if you do.” 

“Yes, sir,” said Ned, very 
meekly. 

Then the man stopped his 
car by a big stone building, 
and helped the children to get 
out. Rose was fast asleep 
now, and he had to carry her. 
They went into a big, cool 
room, and there was a police¬ 
man, behind a desk or at 


130 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

least Ned thought he was 
one. 

The man spoke to the 
policeman, and told him how 
the children had tried to find 
the Park and had got lost. 
Then Ned told the policeman 
where he lived, and what his 
name was, and saw him take 
down a telephone from his 
desk, and call a number. 

In a minute somebody 
spoke at the other end of the 
telephone wire, and the police¬ 
man said to Ned, “Come here 
and talk in the ’phone.” Ned 
was too tired to feel surprised 


TWO LOST CHILDREN 131 

at this, or at anything else. 
He just did as he was told, 
He stood by the telephone, 
and said, “Hello” into it, and 
there was his mother’s voice! 
Ned was so glad to hear her 
that he burst into tears, “Oh, 
Mother!” he said, “I’m so glad 
I’ve found you! We’ll never 
go away like that again!” 


CHAPTER XI 

HOME AGAIN 

It wasn’t ten minutes after 
Rose and Ned had left the 
house, before Rose’s mother 
missed her. She said to her¬ 
self: “I guess Rose must have 
gone over to Ned’s house. She 
shouldn’t have done that 
without asking me.” She 
looked out of the window, and 
couldn’t see Rose over in 
Ned’s yard, and thought she 
must have gone in Ned’s 
house. 

So she went back to the 


132 


HOME AGAIN 


133 


kitchen, where she was busy, 
making a cake. And after 
the cake was in the oven, she 
put little Laddie to bed for 
his nap. 

Then she changed her dress, 
brushed her hair, and thought: 
“As soon as my cake is baked, 
I’ll run over to Ned’s house 
to see what the children are 
doing. Rose is a little scamp 
to run over there, without 
asking me, first, if she might 

go. 

So pretty soon the cake 
was baked, and Rose’s mother 
went across the street to 


134 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

Ned’s house. “I mustn’t stay 
more than a minute,” she said 
to Ned’s mother, when she 
got there, “as I left Baby 
asleep, up-stairs. I just came 
over to see what the children 
are doing. Rose didn’t ask 
permission to come over. She 
went without telling me a 
thing about it.” 

“Why, dear me!” said Ned’s 
mother; “I haven’t seen the 
children for some time. The 
last time I saw them, they 
were over in your yard.” 

“Where do you suppose 
they have gone?” said Rose’s 


HOME AGAIN 


135 


mother. “Perhaps I had 
better look for them.” 

Ned’s mother stood on the 
steps and looked up and 

down the street, while Rose’s 

> 

mother ran home, looked 
in her back-yard, and all 
through her house, calling 
“Rose, Rose!” Then she came 
outdoors, and called across 
the street, “They are not 
here.” The two mothers felt 
a little frightened now. They 
went up the street, and down, 
and looked in every one’s 
yard, and called and called. 

By and by they found two 


136 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

little boys, who said they saw 
Ned and Rose going down 
the street, hand in hand, quite 
a long time before. And then, 
back in her house, Rose’s 
mother found the little black 
iron rooster lying on its side, 
on the table, with a knife be¬ 
side it, and she knew Rose 
must have been taking money 
out of it. 

Perhaps Rose had gone to 
the candy store. She ran to 
that place at once. No Rose 
was there! The storekeeper 
said he hadn’t seen her at 
all, that morning. 


HOME AGAIN 


137 


Ned’s mother telephoned to 
his daddy, and then to Rose’s 
daddy. The daddies called up 
the Police Station, and then 
came home. They looked 
everywhere and asked all 
sorts of people if they had 
seen two little children. They 
asked a man who lived near 
the street-car line, and he re¬ 
membered seeing Ned and 
Rose come down the street, 
and he said he thought they 
got on a street-car. 

What a time they all had! 
The poor mothers were so 
frightened, and every one was 


138 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

so worried and upset. Ned’s 
daddy said, “Perhaps they’ve 
tried to go to the Park or the 
Beach.” So he went to the 
Park, and Rose’s daddy went 
to the Beach, to see if they 
could find the children there. 

Rose’s mother carried Lad¬ 
die over to Ned’s house, and 
she went off to look in all the 
candy stores near their street. 
Ned’s mother stayed at home 
to look after the babies, and to 
wait for any one who might 
come with news of the chil¬ 
dren. She sat in the window, 
so that she could watch Rose’s 


HOME AGAIN 


139 


house, too. Then she went 
out in the yard, and into the 
house again, then out on the 
steps. She was so frightened 
that she couldn’t keep still. 

Just then the telephone 
rang, and she ran to answer 
it. Maybe it was one of 
the daddies. A man’s voice 
asked, “Hello! Is this Mr. 
Scott’s house?” Mr. Scott 
was Ned’s daddy. 

“Yes,” said Ned’s mother. 

“This is the Police Station,” 
said the man’s voice in the 
telephone. “I have two little 
children here.” 


140 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 


“Oh, how thankful I am!” 
said Ned’s mother. 

“And the little boy claims 
your address as his home.” 

Then Mrs. Scott heard a lit¬ 
tle voice say, “Hello, Mother!” 

“Ned!” she cried. “Is it 
you, Ned?” 

You know already what 
little Ned told his mother, 
and you may be sure that he 
meant it. 

Wasn’t she happy! “Is Rose 
all right?” she asked. 

“Yes, she’s here asleep,” 
said Ned’s voice. “She’s so 
tired. So’m I.” 


HOME AGAIN 


141 


The tears came in her eyes 
then. She knew the poor 
little children must be very 
tired, indeed. “Daddy will 
come and get you soon,” she 
said. 

So the next thing was to 
get one of the daddies on the 
telephone. They both had 
promised to call her up, while 
they were away, to see if she 
had had any news about the 
children. So it wasn’t more 
than a minute or two before 
the telephone rang again. It 
was Ned’s daddy. Ned’s 
mother felt very glad to be 


142 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

able to tell him where the 
children were. 

And then, in a few minutes 
more, the telephone rang 
again, and this time it was 
Rose’s daddy. And Ned’s 
mother told him, too, where 
the children were. The two 
daddies, one at the Beach, 
and one near the Park, started 
right away for that Police 
Station. 

Just then Rose’s mother, all 
tired out, came up the steps 
of Ned’s house and opened 
the door, and she felt so sad 
that she began to cry. Ned’s 


HOME AGAIN 


143 


mother ran to meet her, and 
threw her arms around her, 
and said: “Don’t cry. The 
children are safe.” And she 
told her all about it. Weren’t 
they glad and happy, then! 

It was more than an hour 
later, before the daddies 
reached home with the chil¬ 
dren. Oh, such dirty, tired 
little ones! But they were so 
glad to come home, that noth¬ 
ing else seemed to matter. 

Rose and Laddie, and 
Daddy and Mother went 
home. Rose and Ned were 
each given a bath, and sup- 


144 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

per, and put to bed. And 
they never woke till next 
morning. 

When Rose woke, Mother 
was leaning over her bed, to 
give her a good-morning kiss, 
and ask her if she felt rested. 
Rose did, and while she lay 
there, she told Mother all 
about how she and Ned had 
tried to find the Park. Mother 
explained to her how danger¬ 
ous it was for little children 
to go away, alone, and Rose 
promised she would never do 
it again. 

“I don’t want to, anyhow, 



When Rose woke, Mother was leaning over her bed 

Page lkU> 

































HOME AGAIN 


145 


Mother,” she said. “It was 
so hot, and I was so tired and 
hungry and miz’able.” 

Just then Ned’s mother 
came across the street, and 
into the house. 

“Do you know what Ned 
says?” she asked. 

“He says that he and Rose 
were trying to find the Park.” 

“Yes, that is what Rose 
says.” 

“And they took money out 
of their banks.” 

“Yes. I know Rose did.” 

“And rode on two street¬ 
cars.” 


146 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

“Did they do all that ? And 
Rose says they walked a 
long, long way.” 

“Yes, and they had a ride 
in an auto.” 

“It is a mercy we ever 
found them.” 

“Yes, isn’t it?” 

Ned and Rose never tried 
to go alone again. They 
knew now that they couldn’t 
find the way without an older 
person to help them. That 
was a good thing for them to 
learn, wasn’t it? 


CHAPTER XII 

WRITING LETTERS 

“Oh, Mother!” called Rose 
one morning, just after the 
postman had gone, “here are 
three letters for you in our 
door.” Mother came to see. 
“Two for me,” she said, “and 
one for you.” 

“For me?” cried Rose, very 
much surprised. “Oh! Shall 
I open it? Who wrote to me, 
Mother? Is it really for me? 
Will you read it, please?” 
Rose was so excited that she 
nearly tore her letter in two, 

147 




148 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

trying to open the envelope. 
So Mother helped her. 

Inside were two post-card 
pictures, one for Rose, and 
one for her to give Ned. 
Ned’s picture was a funny 
one, of a puppy chewing a 
shoe, and on the back was: 

“Is this the way your dog 
behaves? Uncle Jim.” 

Rose’s showed a little boy, 
sitting alone under a tree, 
with his mouth pulled down 
at the corners, and with big 
tears on his cheeks. Under¬ 
neath was printed, “I cry for 
you ’most every day.” On the 


WRITING LETTERS 149 

back Uncle Jim had written: 
“This is just the way I feel. 
Why don’t you write to me, 
to cheer me up ?” Uncle Jim 
meant it for a joke, of course, 
but when Mother read it to 
Rose, Rose’s eyes filled with 
tears, and she looked very 
sad. 

“I feel just the same as 
Uncle Jim does,” she said, in 
such a tearful voice that 
Mother caught her in her 
arms, and hugged her, and 
told her Uncle Jim had just 
sent the picture for a joke. 
Then she told Rose to run 


150 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 


across the street, and take 
Ned’s picture to him. 

Rose came back in about 
ten minutes with Ned, and 
both children came into the 
kitchen, where Mother was 
busy. 

“Mother,” said Rose, “we 
want to write a letter. Will 
you help us?” 

“Of course I will,” said 
Mother. “A letter to Uncle 
Jim ?” 

“Yes, a long one, too,” cried 
Rose. “I’ll get the pen and 
ink.” 

She ran off, while Mother 


WRITING LETTERS 151 

covered the kitchen table 
with newspapers. Back came 
Rose with pens and a bottle 
of ink, and some of Mother’s 
best note-paper. 

Mother said: “No, Rose, 
not that paper. I’ll get you 
some.” She took her nice 
note-paper in her hand and 
went out. 

The children sat down by 
the table, and Rose gave Ned 
a pen. Then she unscrewed 
the top of the ink-bottle, and 
dipped her pen in the ink. 
She made little marks on the 
edge of a newspaper. Ned 


152 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

dipped his pen in the ink, 
too. He made little marks 
on another piece of news¬ 
paper. 

Rose’s little puppy came in 
the kitchen, through the open 
door. He pushed his little 
nose against Rose, then ran 
around the table to visit Ned. 
Ned reached down to pat him. 
Then he lifted the puppy in 
his arms, and the little doggie, 
sitting in Ned’s lap, could just 
manage to get his front paws 
on the table. This made 
Rose laugh. She held out her 
arms to him. 


WRITING LETTERS 


153 


“Come!” she called. “Let 
me have him, Ned.” 

The puppy tried to climb 
up on the table. Ned pushed 
him, a little, and there he was, 
right on the table. He ran 
across, to Rose. 

“Oh-h-h!” cried Ned. “See 
what he did!” 

He had upset the ink, and a 
big black puddle was spread¬ 
ing over the newspapers. 

“Mother!” screamed Rose. 
And at once Mother came in 
from the dining-room. She 
had pencils and paper in her 
hand. She dropped them on 


154 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

a chair, ran in the pantry, and 
came back with cloths in her 
hand to sop up the ink. Then 
she folded the newspapers 
that were black with ink, and 
sent Ned down to the furnace- 
room with them. And every¬ 
thing about the table was 
clean and white now. The 
cloths and papers had caught 
all the ink. 

“This scamp of a puppy 
did it, Mother,” said Rose. 

“I thought it was wiser for 
you to use pencils,” said 
Mother, “so I brought them 
with me. I hoped to get here 



“Oh-h-h!” cried Ned 


“See what he did!”— Page 153, 







































































































WRITING LETTERS 


155 


in time to rescue the ink, but 
I was just a minute too late." 

“Never mind, Mother," said 
Rose, “We can use pencils 
just as well." 

That made Mother laugh. 

Then Ned came back, and 
Mother gave each child a 
sheet of white paper and a 
pencil. Rose knew all the 
letters, but she couldn't spell 
words yet. Ned knew the 
letters, too. So Mother told 
them how to spell the words. 

“D," she said, and each 
child printed a “D,” “E," said 
Mother; “A, R; that makes 


156 FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S STORY-BOOK 

‘Dear.’ Now leave a little 
space and print U-N-C-L-E. 
That is ‘Uncle’. Now leave 
another little space, and print 
J-I-M. That is‘Jim’.” 

“Oh-h-h!” said Rose softly. 
“All my fingers feel stiff, ex¬ 
cept my thumb.” It was hard 
work for such a wee girlie. 

“What do wish to tell Uncle 
Jim?” asked Mother. 

“Tell him I miss him too 
much,” said Rose sadly. 
Mother helped her to print it. 

“Now sign your name, 
dear,” she said. “The letter 
is long enough.” 


t 


WRITING LETTERS 157 

Mother helped Ned to print 
his letter while Rose was 
putting a row of x’s across 
the top of her letter, for kisses. 

“Shall I draw him a picture, 
Mother?” she asked. 

Mother thought they 
should each draw a picture, 
and that kept them busy for 
several minutes. Then she 
brought them an envelope, 
on which she had written 
Uncle Jim’s name, and the 
children folded their letters, 
and put them in the envel¬ 
ope. 

“It makes a nice fat letter, 


158 FOUR-YEAR-OLD'S STORY-BOOK 

doesn’t it?” said Ned, smiling 
with delight. 

Mother put on a stamp, 
and the children ran off to 
the nearest letter-box. 

Here is a copy of Rose’s 
letter, and the picture she 
drew. Do you like her boat 
with the two children in it? 
I think they must be Ned and 
Rose, don’t you? And two 
more are swimming in the 
water. And the sun and two 
stars are shining together up 
in the sky. Wasn’t that a 
funny mistake for Rose to 
make? 


ft*** WlfClE II 
I -'M/tjS t^y\ 



159 



















LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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